YOUR SHORT REVIEW of a map/mapset you played?

[terminator]

Why you should post your short review?
To help solve these:

• Help fellow Doomers find a map or mapsets they prefer by theme/features (eg: vanilla artwork, funny, horror, humour, gothic, futuristic, colour themed, etc), gameplay (exploration, slaughterfest, etc), and other features.
• A place for Doomers to share their reviews about maps/mapsets they have played, but do not want to maintain a dedicated message thread in the forums.
• Provide some spotlight to new or little-known maps/mapsets otherwise lost in time. However, players could still post reviews on popular maps/mapsets.

Format of post?
Must have 5 particulars about the map/mapset:

1. Map/mapset title and author: For a community project, include the words "Community Project". For a specific map within a community project, state both the map's and megawad's titles.
2. Theme/features: Phrases/keywords of theme/features in the map/mapset perceived by the player. It may be it art style (eg: gothic, pink colour theme, steampunk, urban, vanilla, yellow colour themed), genre (eg: futuristic, horror, humour, medieval times, scifi), location (eg: beach, castle, fortress, mars, space station), gameplay (eg: exploration, slaughterfest), or others (eg: aliens, cultural, egyptian, foody, joke, tradisional malaysian). This part was intended to be generic so that players could easier describe the map/mapset using just simple phrases/keywords. The more phrases/keywords entered, the better.
3. Review: A short review (try keep it less then 100 words) about the map/mapset. May include some personal experience playing it.
4. Download/more info: The links for more info on the map/mapset and/or to download the good stuff.
5. Screenshots/videos: Preferably from your own gameplay, if any. Recommended but not compulsory. Max 5 items only. New update: If possible, please put screenshots inside "spoiler" section so that the page may load faster.

Anything to be mindful of when posting?
Be kind. Mappers labour (out of love) sometimes for months just to make a single map. Even for speedmaps, the time and effort needed to acquire skills to produce such maps are huge. If a player feels a map/mapset is bad/mediocre and there is little to praise, better not post anything. This thread is for reviews only and not constructive critism. The latter has its own place in the map/mapset's respective development message threads, but not here. Be kind.

 

Hope this thread meet its objectives. Thank you in advance for posting, and happy dooming!

Edited May 22, 2021 by terminator

[terminator]

map title: doom 2 - the chasm of sinful (by @Paar)
theme/features: big map, climbing out of chasm, exploration, mixed art styles, terrain height varies considerably, tight ammo in uv.

review: usually not a fan of mix-bash of artistic styles, but in this map it blends surprisingly beautiful. gameplay was a pleasure too with ammo being extremely tight in uv. at a point, was forced to fend of a horde of hell knights, cacodemons and pain elementals with just the chainsaw while dodging missiles from a cyberdemon, all to conserve ammo. overall, making one's way from the bottoms of the chasm to the top while decimating demons was very satisfying indeed.

 

download/more info:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ht7sg4tpipsmiby/chasm_1.1.zip/file

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/121297

 

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[Walter confetti]

Interesting idea, especially for modern wads on idgames that can't be reviewed and random wads on this (or other) forums...

[terminator]

map title, author: tribute to the lamplighter (by @JudgeDeadd)
theme/features: beautiful floating citadel in void, dreamy, fantasy, gothic interior, pillars shaped like pocket lighters, red and yellow sky, slaughterfest, slaughtermap, stonework in space, strange architecture, vanilla textures, yellow galaxy.

 

review: chose to play hmp for this map. turned out, it was the right choice. the map proved to be a great hurdle. though the map has a lower monster count compared to other slaughtermaps, battles felt very intense since monsters appeared in numbers, in close proximity, in all directions, in quick successions. sometimes ammo supply felt overly tight, having to overcome roughly 15 imps and a mancubus with bare fists. and the huge relief after finding just a single medikit after such battles. all that even at hmp. in short, a mesmerizingly beautiful, yet very challenging map. love it.

 

download/more info:

https://www.doomworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=114605

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/119783

 

screenshots/videos:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[Havoc Crow]

Thank you for the cool review @saibog. Hope you won't be disappointed that v2 of my map is slightly easier. :)

[SynthScoutWave]

Map/mapset title and author: Doomer Boards Projects 01: Monuments of Mars (Community Project led by @40oz )

 

 

Theme/features: ...Mars, I guess? A specific set of textures selected to imitated subtly Martian terrain, in science fiction environment. Gameplay is just regular Doom with a fair dose of challange but nothing slaughter-ish.

 

Review: A community effort aiming for the use of a fixed set of textures, with surprisingly diverse results. Starts fairly easy but steps up the curve pretty steadily. Every map has something new to offer, from caves across drilling stations to UAC compounds, all while staying in style. On medium level there's some agony on the final map, but otherwise gunplay and level flow is super pleasing. I haven't played Doom maps for a while but for that, it was a refreshing jump back to square one. Highly recommended on my behalf.

 

Download/more info: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/100256-monuments-of-mars-limit-removing-project-from-doomer-boards/

 

[pcorf]

Map/mapset title and author: Whispers of Satan @pcorf, @Kristian Nebula

Theme/features: Various progressing theme / Boom compatible / Not a slaughterwad.

Review: WOS is a somewhat controversial 32 level Limit removing/Boom compatible megawad for Doom 2 with original MIDI soundtrack released in 2009. The maps are of easy to medium difficulty, progress from a starbase theme to the depths of hell, have nice architecture/atmosphere but some maps suffer from been very symmetrical in layout because I rushed the effort when coming to designing some of the maps. But MAP28 is just an amazing masterpiece which sets the epitome for this megawad. And why I am reviewing my own wad?, I have no clue so feel free to call me crazy.

Download/more info: Idgames, Doom Wiki.

Screenshots/videos: OST (Youtube)

Edited April 30, 2021 by pcorf

[Walter confetti]

Map/Mapset title and author: One Sector Collection by Engired

Theme/Features: Outdoors / Techbase / Hell in some maps for theme, weird gimmick about limitations in mapping as features?

Review: Caught by the gimmick of one sector maps, i've downloaded this 10 maps episode been curious of the results... The levels are all sets into the 1024x1024 map unit size and the one sector rule as been broken in 2 maps already (MAP02 and MAP04), but the maps are short and fun to play, not hiding a some sort of little degree of challenge in some map, but otherwise is a series of ok maps, with some maps that i didn't quite enjoyed like MAP08 (i just don't really enjoy mazes) and MAP10 texturing wasn't really my thing, i think that these maps will be good for speedrunners and demo recorders since i've finished some of them in 15/30 seconds (i finished MAP07 in 18 seconds by skipping some monsters), overall it's a series of ok episode.

Download: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/0-9/1so

Pictures and that jazz:

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map/mapset title and author:Alternate Doom II, Alden Bates

Theme/features: Vanilla. Occasional attempts to create a sense of place, but it all collapses together into an abstract mess.

Review: The same guy who made some of the most annoying maps in Memento Mori? Yeah, the combat is largely far too inconsistent for it's own good(with maybe 2 exceptions), and the maps are  butt guly. One of the worst moments is in map 02 where you have to shoot at a wall to raise a walkway, and the narrow stairs are barely visible. Bates definitely liked to experiment with the vanilla format, but his maps tend to be stupidly scattered and unfocused, overall(Map 08 is actually a decent airport terminal representation, and I could probably find a few more). His Circle of Death remake, for instance mixes beige brick with techbase as if he was trying to decide between abstract and non-abstract (the recently released Doom II soundtrack for map 11 is a strangely appropriate pairing). Not as terrible as other map sets from this period, but Jens Nielsen, Eric Sargent, and Andy Badorek from Memento Mori, were much better than this.

Download/more info: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/altd2

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[terminator]

map title, author: fireburn (by @Octavarium).

theme/features: beautiful layout, boom format, clever traps, lava on ceiling, secrets have much needed ammo, slaughterfest, slaughtermap, vanilla textures, water pools, waterfalls.

 

review: from screenshots, thought this map was some exploration map because of the many cramped spaces. did not know this was a slaughtermap. not skillful enough to play such maps. imagine the surprise and horror when attempting the map in uv! face white with terror, pressing the keyboard all over the place in panic, saving every 10 seconds. after an eternity and dying several hundred times, eventually finished the map by dashing between the legs of several cyberdemons. a beautiful map, complete with waterfalls and pools, but the beauty hides a sinister reality being full of monsters and clever traps. superb work by the author.

 

download/more info:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/b0i0guu046849qu/Fireburn.v2.zip

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/71076

 

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[terminator]

map title, author: hell's farthest shore (by @LordEntr0py).

theme/features: acid lakes, blood pool, coves, exploration with some slaughterfest, hitscan snipers, huge gargantuan map, lava pool, natural stone arch, nice natural terrain, open and closed arenas, stonework, superb architecture, switch hunting but puzzle not difficult, vanilla textures, varied height terrain, water pool, weird insignias.

 

review: an enormous exploration map filled to the brim with jaw-dropping visuals. screenshots simply do not do this map justice. too many picturesque locations to post. gameplay was well balanced in uv with barely enough ammo to survive the battles. except for the last battle, definitely not enough ammo ;) overall, with stunning visuals and great gameplay, this map is a rare masterpiece that would be remembered fondly for years to come. love it.

note: accidently played this map till finish using iwad doom2 and not doom1 as recommended by the author. so the map should look even more stunning than the screenshots below. my bad.

 

download/more info:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oykimgqohmieit6/

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/119237

 

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[MajorRawne]

PSX DOOM: Fall of Triton

I've spoken about this at length elsewhere and don't want to piss the map author off by belabouring the point, so this will be brief.

 

Music: Superbly chosen and the new music is very frightening. This bloke gets PSX Doom.

 

Monster deployment: Often horrible, with huge blocks of monsters simply there every time you go round a corner or enter a room. Larger monsters are usually at the back so infighting occurs frequently. Way too many pink and nightmare demons. Some of the maps would be very challenging (i.e. nearly impossible) from a pistol start. However, several maps, particularly the later ones, have creative and punishing fights which will catch the player out. Ammo balance is all over the place at times, but tends towards keeping you decently stocked; one large fight with Cyberdemons and Barons could be problematic.

 

Map design: Absolutely beautiful and super-nostalgic, bearing in mind these are supposed to resemble PSX style maps with simplified architecture. I had a lump in my throat through a lot of the later levels and there are nods to the Threshold of Pain wad. The lighting is unfortunately flat and basic throughout, which is a trait of PC Doom, meaning maps that would be terrifying... often aren't. However, all the maps are fun to play, the secret maps are WELL worth finding. In fact my two favourite maps were both secret levels, one a hellish reimagining of the first map, the second a hellish remake of a classic Doom map. There are a lot of maps and none of them seem to drag on for long.

 

Difficulty level: Basically, trivial throughout, due to the way monsters are hurled at you like fodder.

 

Is it worth playing: Most certainly, especially if you like PSX Doom and want a longer megawad with shorter maps.

 

PSX DOOM: Fall of Triton II

I haven't played far into this yet. It's a reboot of the original megawad. So far the reboot only seems to add bells and whistles, although it messes with the lighting levels to make things creepier and more in line with PSX Doom. A few people complain about the ammo balance. It also for some reason slows the player down when you get hurt - who wanted that feature?

 

INNOCENCE X

A PSX/Doom 64 style mapset which all fans of Doom 64, or anyone looking for a stern challenge, must play.

 

Music: Creepy and disturbing, Hodges at his darkest.

 

Monster deployment: Extremely punitive, this mapset hates you and wants you to die. It's Doom 64 through and through, so is mean, scripted and full of traps. Ammo balance leans towards Resident Evil style so you rarely feel you have enough on UV, meaning there are places where you might have to cheat. Why are people making PSX-inspired megawads where you have no ammo? There was tons in the original game. The constant ambushes are vicious and sometimes don't give you chance to react; for example in one early level you go down a lift, there is a monster right behind you and chaingunners/knights in front of you, so you are guaranteed to die or take severe damage. This makes the levels challenging and therefore exciting, but being Doom 64, you see some of it coming. "Oh here's a switch, better hit it and summon ten Hell Knights." It is actually fun to keep going just to see how cruel things get. EDIT: If you complete the level "Unlucky Morpheus" without cheating, I congratulate you on your mastery of Doom.

 

Map design: Creepy, with a lot of dark, shadowy areas and various cool effects like thunder and lightning. Being scripted means there might be less replay value, but to be honest this is probably one to play on HMP and then step up to UV, so it doesn't matter. It incorporates the maddening dart traps from D64 which do a ton of damage. The maps feel varied and original and a lot of effort went into them. It features cool effects like room over room which we need to see more of in Doom.

 

Difficulty level: As stated, this is hideous on UV, but sometimes in an unfair way. I can't imagine playing the later maps from a pistol start. You might get 17 rockets, then face multiple Mancubi and Imps with a side order of 15 pink demons, and a berserk pack tucked away behind the wall of demons.

 

Is it worth playing: You need to get this on your list now. If you like horror-themed maps you'll love it. If you want to see something different from modern slaughtermaps (aka "posh Fiffy maps"), you'll love it. If you enjoyed Doom 64, you'll love it.

Edited May 4, 2021 by MajorRawne

[MajorRawne]

SCYTHE

An all-time classic noted for its insane difficulty spike and its infamous map 26 - something I forgot about before starting on UV. Maps are split into three 10-level episodes but all intermission text remains original, and the map names don't display in the automapper.

 

Music: Pretty much seems like if it wasn't in classic Doom, it was in Alien Vendetta. So I am happy with this! The classic game's music is starting to sound very dated, but the mapper chose the best of the bunch.

 

Map design: The maps are typically short but beautiful in an old-school way. Surely no-one could complain about them. They seem nicely designed, they flow very well and are generally short and sharp, keeping you hooked because each map is so short and you don't get bogged down with boring The Citadel-style slogs. In later maps, the use of crossfires from powerful monsters is well done, though "safe" zones are provided where you can hide and let the monsters sort each other out. Hell levels have always been my favourite and this delivers in spades.

 

Monster deployment: For the first two thirds this is really compelling, there are some maps which are harder than others including a map which deliberately gives you a taste of what's to come - but if the later maps are a spicy vindaloo, most of the earlier maps are your girlfriend's korma.

 

Difficulty level: It rarely feels unfair and is generous with powerups and stuff for the first two episodes. Map 21 onwards become very painful. You will definitely know how good you are at Doom when you try them on UV. It gives the megawad a split personality since the difficulty spike is considerable. You could justify this as the megawad training you up as you progress, but when the spike is so severe, we could have probably done with more warning!

 

Is it worth playing: This depends on whether you like playing good megawads or not. If you want to chill out on easier maps, play the first episode of Scythe. If you want to dip your toes into the world of slaughtermaps, play Scythe. If you like quick but fiendish maps, play Scythe. If you want to remember exactly why Doom was so popular it's still big today, play Scythe. EDIT: Skip map 28. Trust me.

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by MajorRawne

[terminator]

mapset title, author: oceanside (by michael jan krizik @valkiriforce).
theme,features: based on actual location (oceanside city in california), beautiful suburban scenery background, bright and sunny, car park, custom textures, gardens, house, many outdoor battles, medium monster count, slaughterfest, slaughtermap, soccer field, warehouse.

 

review: a beautiful sunny set of 3 maps with discernible increase in difficulty, from vanilla gameplay to slaughterfest in large open areas, then in spaces full of obstacles. lots of fun, especially when manuevering cyberdemons to decimate hordes of other monsters via monster infighting (a must since ammo is limited). with a medium monster count (>100 to <1000) per level in uv, this mapset is a perfect introduction to slaughterfest gameplay for those who desire such skills in carnage. a definite memorable delight.

 

download/more info:
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/m-o/oceansde

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/96750

 

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[terminator]

map title, author: corruption factory (by @Lazlo Panaflex).

theme/features: clever traps especially with archviles, delightful route hunting, indoor toxic lakes, large map, not slaughterfest/slaughtermap, spider sniping, superb architecture, superb lighting, toxic pools, udmf map format, uv difficulty only, vanilla textures.

 

review: a big map, exploring it was a delight. unexpected routes to take, fantastic architecture with awesome lighting, all enticing the player to delve ever deeper into the map. gameplay was challenging in uv but not insane. and some of the traps were exceptionally nasty, complete with backup archviles. although a large map, gameplay did not felt dragging at all; an obvious sign the map was exhaustively well designed, and a mark of superb mapping skills by the author. played this map in the wee hours of morn, and it kept me up far better then coffee! love it, lots.

 

download/more info:
https://www.doomworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=126957

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/121756

 

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[Makedounia]

Map/mapset title and author:Whispers of Satan by Paul Corfiatis and Kristian Aro

Theme/features: Tech base, outdoors maps, hell

Review: Wad starts out strong and I had a blast playing through the first five or so maps. Middle of the wad kinda blends together in my mind and the symmetric level design gets extremely repetitive after a while. Hell episode was fun for the most part, map 28 being my favourite in the entire wad. Final map was a letdown 

Download/more info: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/wos

Screenshots/videos:

[MajorRawne]

HELL REVEALED

Another all-time classic which could be seen as the father of the modern slaughter wad. It's always irked me how hard I used to find HR, so I booted it up in UV, gritted my teeth and went for it. Could this finally be my entryway into slaughter-style gameplay?

 

Music: I'm sure we all remember the landmark copyright infringement case, Haggay & Niv vs 1980s Porn.

 

Map design: Negatives: This megawad dates from 1997 and many maps look like it. There are tons of blunders such as having powerful monsters at the top of tall staircases or lifts where you can't see them; doorway fights where you can't see past the mountain of dead cacodemons; narrow corridors with powerful monsters who need to be shotgunned; areas where you can't backtrack from, so if you don't have enough ammo, well screw you (this happened to me on map 14). Some of the maps are downright hideous, and you can't even say they favour gameplay over aesthetic, because the gameplay in some of them sucks too. Some maps are agonisingly bland like Chambers of War, one of my all-time least favourite Doom maps. I found in later maps it was easy to run out of ammo. Positives: Some of the maps are all-time classics, some are fun and exciting, especially before the difficulty curve turns into Mount Everest. If you want to stand a chance at getting into the world of slaughter, you should start here.

 

Monster deployment: Hell Revealed plays more like a typical megawad than a slaughter wad, so the gameplay can be fun and varied - up to a point. After this point, infighting is mandatory. (This point is map 13 on UV.) Monster placement is often quite fiendish, so expect plenty of crossfires, plenty of dodging, it's not a megawad where sitting still helps you. I would imagine this plays much better on HMP than UV, so will drop down and try again.

 

Difficulty level: My albatross. Miles harder than Scythe or AV, it's shocking just how hard Hell Revealed still is after all these years. It doesn't spam you with BFGs in the early maps and when you do have one, many maps don't supply the cells needed to go on a rampage, so I would argue HR is far more skill-based than many wads I've tried. On UV, I reached maps 13 and 14 before realising I just wasn't having fun any more - I skipped the end of map 13 after cheesing the impossible blue key room* and I gave up on map 14, which trapped me against a Cyber and Arch-Viles with not enough health or ammo.

 

Is it worth playing: I'll update the review after trying the harder maps again on HMP. Entitled modern gamers who grew up with iPads rather than the NES/Master System will be shocked at how bad HR looks and at all the "noob" mistakes, not realising that HR was utterly groundbreaking for its day - Doom modding was like 3 years old at this point and no-one had really figured it out. This is a megawad that everyone must play, it is Doom history and still beloved by many. Personally, I found it to start off ok and then have the fun sucked out of it on UV, but there is something special about getting your arse kicked by a megawad that's 24 years old.

 

^{* Decino barely managed to survive this room with more health and armour than me and a vastly higher skill level.}

[terminator]

mapset title, author: advent (by @El Inferno).
theme/features: blood flowing on buildings, blood fountains, blood rivers, castle, cathedral, gothic industrial theme, grey red colour scheme with contrasting deep blue sky, grey water, high monster count (>1000), huge open arenas, masonry, maze, slaughterfest/slaughtermap, spires, stepping pillars of all sorts, stonework, superb architecture, terrain would sometimes snag player movement, towers.

 

review: visually, this set of 2 maps is astounding with superbly detailed architecture. not many wads could compare to its intricate charm, a real hidden gem. however, its incredible beauty is a stark contrast to its brutal savage nature. this is no jolly spraying of bullets kind of gameplay, but one that requires serious planning, with very little room for error especially in uv. in map01, ammo was extremely tight. often could not effectively use monster infighting due to narrow pathways, numerous obstacles and large groups of monsters consisting of the same monster type. had to manoeuvre the swarms to be concentrated into small spaces /corners /recesses in order to kill as many as possible with each shot to conserve ammo. had a rough time dodging attacks too since some walls, having near invisible corners, would sometimes snag player movement. completed the level barely alive. map02 was a different ball game altogether. stranded on a tiny island in the middle of a huge toxic lake that removes 10 health points per second, at the same time being surrounded by literally a thousand hell knights all at once, was far beyond my gaming skills. roughly 4.5 hours later and after dying countless times, managed to finally complete the mapset. felt little relief however, more of feeling raw and shaken after such an extreme ordeal. kudos to the author for making such a beautiful yet immensely challenging mapset, and to the person that set par time of 14.5 minutes on map02. insane :)

 

download/more info:
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/advent2

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/115283

 

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[El Inferno]

Thank you for a great review @terminator :)

[terminator]

mapset title, author: tnt goes boom! episode 1 & 2 (by @The_SloVinator).
theme/features: ammo well balanced, circular meat saw, clever traps, coutyards, expert use of tnt textures, great lighting, impressive interior design, iwad tnt, lava moat, not a slaugterfest/slaughtermap, torture room, puzzles not too difficult (just nice), waterways, warehouse.

review: a rare treat as there are not many tnt based wads around. visually, this mapset generally adheres to the classic tnt theme. however, at certain locations in mapset, it delivers its own flair with fantastic architecture. gameplay in uv was challengingly fun, but gratefully not oppressively insane. an 11 map long journey, gameplay thoughout the mapset did not feel dragging due to clever traps sprinkled throughout the mapset, enticing the player to keep moving on. in other words, a meticulously well designed mapset which is both an eye candy and also awesomely fun to play. love it.

download/more info:
https://www.doomworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=122326

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/121133

 

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[1Destro3456]

Community project title: Half Moon part 1

Map name: Abandoned Library (Map 11)

Author: @Engired

Theme/Features: Entrance to a "library" and the "library" itself, made in 30-35 minutes, the gameplay more or less goes like  you exit the starting area, you can't enter it back (nothing of importance is there anyway, it's like that mainly there so that you can't go back) there's a well with teleporting monsters to your left and zombiemen to your left with ammo, in the well there is the yellow key that you need to exit, in the area to the yellow door there are more monsters, and to enter it there's a green armor, in the exit area there are many archviles and a mancubus. Now you need to try to hit the exit switch though the point is that the archviles will exit that and start hunting you down.

Short Review: Interesting map, one of the first standouts in that megawad, there are others sure, but even if it sounds bad I actually liked it, since it's small it won't take you long to finish it, and there's ample cover for the archviles. I suggest to give it a try (if you think the concept of Half Moon is to your liking), interesting concept with the well because the teleporting enemies only teleport when you kill the one that is already inside the well, and they spawn on top of the key.

Download/more info: 

Screenshots:

[terminator]

map title, author: sstlvl1b (by @Noyemi K)
theme/features: beautiful interior, challenging even with low monster count, nice lighting, non slaughterfest/slaughtermap, udmf map format, uv difficulty only, vanilla textures.

review: a revitalisation of an old map, sstlevl1.wad. the additional lighting greatly enhances the atmosphere of an otherwise typical simple vanilla look. gameplay was challenging even with the low monster count (<100) due to the cyberdemon's strategic location, and an army of hell knights. ammo was tight and had to use monster infighting to conserve supplies. overall, a successful attempt by the author rejuvenating a relic from the ancient world. i like it.

download/more info:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i04igvxg7h5qef3/sstlvl1B.wad?dl=0

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/121024

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator : relocated screenshots into spoiler section; removed link preview; all for faster page loading.

[terminator]

map title, author: misanthropolis (by @SCF)
theme/features: blood lake, blood pools, boom map, browns greys reds colour scheme, castle, extremely hard yellow key room, hellish, large map, nice asymetrical architecture, vanilla gameplay with some slaughterfest, vanilla textures.

review: a large beautiful map with its slightly awkward yet appealing asymmetrical architecture and strong vanilla art style. for a newbie like me, gameplay in uv was varied but overall challenging, particularly in the yellow key room. with no permanent obstacles from the rows of archviles, little leg room to dodge the swarms of monsters, not enough ammo supply, and of course my newbie gaming skills, the yellow key room was far more difficult than the slaughterfest final battle itself. was very lucky that my ammo, especially rockets, were all at nearly full capacity before entering the room (from a lot of backtracking for ammo hunting and punching/chain-sawing lower-tier monsters to conserve ammo). overall, a map with gorgeous looks and very challenging battles where ammo conservation is top priority. i like it.

download/more info:
http://www.scfworks.com/doom/Misanthropolis_v1.zip

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/117677

screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by terminator

[Jacek Bourne]

Alien Vendetta:

 

 

Favorite Maps: 8, 10, 14, 32, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27

Favorite Map: 27

 

Least Favorite Maps: 9, 11, 19, 28, 30

 

Least Favorite Map: 11

 

Conclusion:

Mostly good. Will be skipping those maps. Not sure if my judgement of map19 is fair because somehow an archvile spawned in the end of the map created about 10 ghost enemies including mostly revenants and hell knights.

 

[MajorRawne]

THE PLUTONIA EXPERIMENT

Finally completed the legend on UV (playing through consecutively, no pistol starts except for Cyberden and Go 2 It).

 

Music: Just seems to all be Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 music.

 

Map design: Vastly superior eye candy to the original games, giving a compelling sense of location which Romero's rules tend to forbid. It's no Alien Vendetta but a massive upgrade on megawads of its era. They are cleverly designed to screw the player with traps, crossfires and ambushes, but many are very similar to each other and some seem to be riffs on Doom 2 maps. Repeated, inconsistent use of liquid floors is infuriating when everything else is so well thought-out.

 

Monster deployment: Plutonia has several nasty tricks - and will use them fifty thousand times. Most maps are surprisingly not as hard as expected when played consecutively but would be very challenging from a pistol start. However, the spam of chaingunners, revenants and arch-viles is repeated in almost every single map, which combined with occasional repetition in map design, means it can get tiring to play several maps in one session. These gents really knew how to place the monsters.

 

Difficulty level: On UV, I would definitely say there are moments which qualify as unfair; eg in one map you hit a switch and a crescent of Revenants beam in right behind you, which is instant death. Many, many instances of powerful monsters appearing right behind you during ambushes. EDIT: I forgot to add that the challenge is real in this megawad and most of the time it is exciting. There is plenty of health and ammo, especially when playing consecutively instead of pistol starting. EDIT 2: Go 2 It, played from a pistol start, has long been regarded with awe by the Doom Community, and having conquered it myself in this way I can finally concur.

 

Is it worth playing: Yes, definitely, this stands the test of time for its difficulty and its visuals. It has its flaws, but playing it through will make you realise how influential and heavily copied it's been in the decades since.

Edited May 15, 2021 by MajorRawne

[MajorRawne]

RUMA

Once regarded as one of the greatest maps ever made.

 

Music: Ultimate Doom music, which many maps of this era used.

 

Map design: Much faster and more fun to play than Suspended In Dusk, although it is quite monochrome, being either grey or brown. There's a delightful secret (which I missed) and some attempts at decent architecture. It reminded me somewhat of Crater, the classic Final Doom map, although it's not as long. A nice bite-sized chunk of fun.

 

Monster deployment: A bit Revenant-heavy, with sniping chaingunners, reminding me of Plutonia albeit nowhere near as hard once you know where you're going. The terrain offers plenty of cover.

 

Difficulty level: Mild to moderate on UV, it won't cause you any sleepless nights, so it's a nice antidote to all the stressful, super-hard levels coming out of Doom Builder these days.

 

Is it worth playing: Yes, it's a classic. Not the best map of all time any more, but fun, engaging and memorable, worthy of the award in its day.

Edited May 15, 2021 by MajorRawne

[terminator]

mapset title: hello wad

moved to the link below. apologies for any inconvenienced caused.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2314011

Edited May 16, 2021 by terminator

[Walter confetti]

Wait, this space it's also for our own maps reviews?

[Jacek Bourne]

2 hours ago, terminator said:

map title, author: hello wad (by @terminator).

theme/features: 100% gameplay focus, boom-compatible, close quarters brawl, extremely simple map, gzdoom, prboom-plus, slaughtermap /slaughterfest training, small room/space, vanilla textures. 

 

review:

as a doom newbie, i wanted to learn how to play slaughter maps. someone in the doomworld forums suggested i make my own slaughter map, but make it very difficult but not impossible for myself to play it to improve my gaming skills faster. did just that. in the 1st hour of using ultimate doom builder for the 1st time, i came up with this crude simple map which focuses entirely on gameplay. my very first doom map, named "hello wad". initially intended for personal use, but i'll just share it for those who want to have some a quick 2-3 minutes of fun.

 

a major handicap of mine is being trapped in a small space while closely surrounded by many monsters. this tiny map depicts the situation nicely and has helped me progress in my gameplay a lot. especially by overcoming the fear and panic, staying calm, and quickly scanning from within the chaos for more leg room, medikits and other goodies.

 

since i do not know how to make a proper wall switch yet, i just left the wall full of switches as a perspicuous option. the player could either quickly make his/her way to the wall of switches and end the onslaught (par time 7 seconds), or test his/her skill by remaing in the room and decimate all the monsters before exiting the map (par time 2 minutes 20 seconds for 100% kills). game difficulty not implemented (don't know how to do it yet), but actual map difficulty is slightly hard, perhaps "hntr newbie slaughterish" since i am still very new to slaughter maps.

 

download:

hellowad.zip

 

screenshots:

  Hide contents

 

 

You should probably start a separate thread to ask for advice on your maps. You cannot reliably review your own maps because you will inherently show bias towards them and may overlook issues. It's always better to have other people review them.

[terminator]

2 hours ago, Jacek Bourne said:

 

You should probably start a separate thread to ask for advice on your maps. You cannot reliably review your own maps because you will inherently show bias towards them and may overlook issues. It's always better to have other people review them.

noted with thanks. cheers :)